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Congressmen bring news from Washington

Jim Gerlach and Chalie Dent address local services clubs at the annual luncheon

By Les Stewart

lesstewart@ldnews.com @lesstewart2 on Twitter

Updated:
11/28/2013 06:50:12 PM EST

Congressmen Jim Gerlach, left, and Charlie Dent talk with welding technology teacher Sharon Bally Wednesday while touring the Lebanon County Career and Technology Center. After the tour, the congressmen spoke at the Lebanon Lions Club's annual luncheon for local service clubs. (Earl Brightbill — Lebanon Daily News)

Another federal government shutdown does not appear likely next year, two Lebanon County congressmen told local service clubs Wednesday.

Republicans Jim Gerlach and Charlie Dent addressed several clubs at the Lebanon Lions Club's annual pre-Thanksgiving luncheon in the Lebanon Country Club.

Gerlach, a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, said lawmakers have been working for the past several years on a comprehensive reform of the nation's tax code, which will be introduced in the House early next year.

The present code runs 70,000 pages and contains more than 3 million words and is growing, he said.

"Some people say it's sort of like the Bible without the good news," said Gerlach, whose 6th Congressional District includes part of Lebanon County.

The committee is working to make the code smaller, simpler and fairer, Gerlach said. The new code is designed to stimulate economic growth, he said.

That will include lowering the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to the mid 20 percentile, he said.

The new code will also do away with some deductions that have been added to the tax code over the years, Gerlach said.

He said the measure is generating bipartisan discussion in the House and the Senate.

On another financial front, Dent, whose 15th Congressional District also includes part of Lebanon County, noted federal spending in the past two years has gone down, the first time that has happened since the Korean War.

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The reason for that is the Budget Control Act of 2011, which included sequestration that cut discretionary spending that includes funds for the military, he said.

Two things that will grow the economy, Dent said, are pro-growth tax reform and maximizing the country's energy potential. He noted the International Energy Agency said that by the year 2015, the United States will be biggest oil producer in the world, ahead of Saudi Arabia and Russia.

"That's how quickly things are growing," he said.

Part of that is due to production in the Marcellus Shale oil deposits, Dent said. Part of Marcellus Shale runs through Pennsylvania.

"If Washington got out of the way, we could do more," he said.

Gerlach and Dent also took questions from the audience.

They were asked if another federal government shutdown was in store next year.

Gerlach and Dent said they believed the odds of that happening are slim.

Gerlach said most of the feedback he received from people in his district during the shutdown was overwhelmingly negative.

Some in the House and the Senate thought it would be leverage on those who supported the Affordable Care Act, Gerlach said.

"That clearly did not happen," he said.

Until Republicans win control of the House, they cannot do anything to change the health care act, Gerlach said.

"I think some people learned some lessons," said Dent, a member of the House Appropriations Committee.

The local effect of the 16-day shutdown included 732 technicians at Fort Indiantown Gap, he said.

Dent said he had more complaints from Lebanon County residents about the shutdown than from other areas of his district.

Another audience member asked if the congressmen believed that the American people were misled about the health care act.

"We were misled too when this legislation was put on the floor a few years ago," Gerlach said. Republicans in the House tried repeatedly to do away with it or change it but that won't happen until American voters give the GOP a majority in the House and the Senate, he said.

"Clearly, the American people were sold a bill of goods on this legislation," Gerlach said. Some people in Congress and the White House continue to sell that bill of goods, he said.

"This is just the beginning. It just isn't about a website site," he said.

Another audience member asked how Congress can become less partisan.

"I wish I knew the exact answer," Gerlach said, pointing out that American voters are split evenly on issues like what the role of government should be.

Reapportionment of congressional districts, making them safe for incumbents, doesn't help, he said. Gerlach said there are about 50 congressional districts that will determine which party wins control of the House in each election, he said. Middle-of-the-road congressmen are becoming fewer and fewer, Gerlach said.

Dent said Congress has to learn to form bipartisan coalitions. Congressmen from each end of the political spectrum are unwilling to change, he said.

Ronald Reagan was a conservative, but he was also a pragmatic politician, Dent said.